I will never forget the first time that I saw BOD Man cologne. I was in
Target one winter afternoon during my senior year of high school, with a friend
of mine. It was a Saturday, and that night was my high school’s annual Snowball
dance. We were at Target to get a couple last minute beauty items before
heading to another friend’s house to get ready. (This was the first time that I
had been invited to a girl’s house to get ready in a big group before a dance,
so I was very excited, but that is getting off topic from my story.) Anyways,
we were in the beauty department in Target, walking by the perfume and cologne
section, when suddenly, I saw it. This cheap looking men’s cologne item from a
company called BOD. I had never seen it before. The scent was simply titled
“Really Ripped Abs.” I picked up the bottle, showed it to my friend, and we
both looked and it each other and burst into laughter. The laughter continued
until tears ran down both of our faces! “Can you believe that guys actually buy
this stuff? I would never be able to take a guy seriously who wore this!” I
said to my friend. I even took a picture of the cologne bottle on my phone and
texted it to a few more friends because I thought the name and packaging of it
was that tacky and funny.
A year later, when I was a freshman in college at Gardner-Webb
University here in North Carolina, it was Thanksgiving Break and I was spending
the holiday with a college friend of mine in High Point, NC. We ended up in a
Walmart on Thanksgiving Day, and found ourselves in the beauty department. I
had honestly forgotten all about BOD cologne, but it was on a display in this
particular Walmart, and upon seeing it I started laughing all over again. I
showed it to my college friend, and she found it equally both funny and
appalling that such a product would actually exist. “Hey, look at me, I’m
wearing my really ripped abs today!” I said in my best tough guy impersonation
voice to her, and we both had a good laugh. Again, neither of us could take it
seriously.
So when it came to this blog post, there was absolutely no question in
my mind that BOD Man brand cologne was what I was going to be writing about,
since clearly it has left an impact on me (and I’ve never even smelled the
stuff… thank goodness!).
The BOD Man advertising absolutely conforms to Katz’s themes, especially
the one about muscularity with ideal masculinity. I feel as though I’m stating
the obvious here… but to have a personal hygiene scent product called “BOD”
pretty much is just a direct reference to masculine muscularity and
attractiveness! The term “bod” is a slang term for “body,” but is used
generally to mean an attractive or in shape body, so the fact that this
fragrance company named their men’s cologne product after a slang term for
being in shape definitely lines up with what Katz is saying. Also looking at
the actual picture ad for BOD Man cologne that I am sharing in this post- the
male model used in this image definitely fits the stereotype that is discussed
in the “Hunkvertising” article that our class read last week.
I think that BOD Man absolutely reinforces mask-ulinity, and it isn’t a
healthy representation of masculinity at all. Just look at the description of
the cologne from the fragrance’s manufactures as seen on their website: “These
potent, sexy, all over body fragrances are long lasting and totally irresistible.
They’ll have her saying
‘I want your BOD!’” Basically the idea that this company is trying to get
across is that women should want men only for their hot bodies, which is a form
of objectification and promotes mask-ulinity. I personally think one basic way
that they could improve their product is by changing the names of the body
sprays. In addition to “Really Ripped Abs,” there is also “Black,” “Fresh Guy,”
and “Most Wanted.” All that I can say to these is REALLY?!?! The names on these are so corny and over-the-top that I
almost can’t even type them out in this blog post without smirking. I still
attest to the belief that I had in high school: I would never be able to take a
guy seriously who wears “Really Ripped Abs” (even if he actually had really
ripped abs).
-Annaliese
No comments:
Post a Comment